Mel is able to dance en pointe again, 13 years after a car accident crushed her leg (Picture: CEN)Mel Reis, an amateur Brazilian ballerina, is finally able to enjoy dancing again, 13 years after a car accident crushed one of her legs.

Now 31, Mel was crossing a junction near her home in Campinas, Sao Paulo, in 2002 when she was caught up in a collision between two cars.

She spent four months in hospital and went through 30 gruelling surgeries to try and save the limb, but doctors eventually decided to amputate the lower part of her left leg in 2014.

Mel was devastated and feared she’d never be able to enjoy her biggest passion in life again – ballet dancing.

(Picture: CEN)However, 13 years after the accident, she is back to balancing on tip toe, thanks to a very special ‘en pointe’ prosthesis created by Dr José André Carvalho, director of the Campinas Institute of Prosthesis and Orthosis.

‘It has always been my dream to go back to using pointe shoes,’ said an ecstatic Mel, who returned to the barre this month. ‘To be able to dance again is an inexplicable feeling of joy.’